Author Archives: Caleb Coy

Why There Ain’t Nothing Wrong With Double Negatives

Posted by Caleb Coy on

“I didn’t do nothing,” is a double negative.  The words didn’t and nothing, both being negative, create a sentence in which there are two negatives, when it is otherwise assumed that the speaker meant to enforce a single negation: Nothing was done.

Is this an error?  Is this bad grammar?
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Peanut Shells and Bible College Lectureship Discussions

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The other night I had the privilege at eating at Texas Steakhouse, which is like Logan’s Roadhouse, which both have something in common with Five Guys and a Burger, which is my favorite of the three.  That information isn’t important.  Neither is it important that among the few lifespan-decreasing fast food chain restaurants I actually enjoy is Five Guys and a Burger.  On two levels, the burgers and peanut-oil fries are to die for.  I’m here to talk about the peanuts.
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Jesus Loves You & Pure Religion Too: A Response to Jeff Bethke

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Around this time year ago I was one of many people who grew interested in a thoughtful and poignant video poem posted by Jeff Bethke, and responded to the discussion in like fashion with a video poem.

Here is Bethke’s poem, “Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus”

Here is the video poem I posted in response, “Jesus Loves You (and Pure Religion Too)”

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If Hitler was a Christian, I’m the Queen of England

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Occasionally you’ll bump into someone who is convinced that the Holocaust was a result of Christianity.

Now, I could dismiss this and laugh it off (no pearls before the swine). But then you would never know if it was true, and if you were searching for reasons to abandon your Christian belief then my reaction would seem cowardly. So let us discuss the matter.

Was Adolf Hitler a Christian? And, if so, is Christianity to blame for the Holocaust?
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A Farewell to Gun Memes: “Swords–>Plows” Means Something

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Stop posting stupid memes.  Especially ones about guns.

I’ve previously established the need for Christians to actually make alive the kind of kingdom that beats swords into ploughshares.  This is what Isaiah prophesied (2:3-4),  and which Micah prophesied (4:3).

Think about what this means: Taking swords and beating them into scythes, taking spears and beating them into pruning hooks.
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_Blue Like Jazz_: the Book, the Film, the Thoughts

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“I used to not like God because God didn’t resolve. But that was before any of this happened…Jazz is like life because it doesn’t resolve. But what if we’re not alone? What if all these stars are notes on a page of music swirling in the blue like jazz?”

I came across Donald Miller as a group at my church were studying his memoir, and then as my brother introduced me to him.  Donald Miller’s memoir of reflective essays, Blue Like Jazz: Non-Religious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality, is a book that is refreshingly honest, complexly painful, and creatively provocative.  It successfully reaches both Christians and non-Christians as an audience.
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